IRON PILLS A MAJOR PERIL FOR CHILDREN

Obstetricians prescribe iron supplements for pregnant women. Infant formulas, breakfast cereals, milk, vitamins and other products for children and adults are iron-fortified to assure optimal growth and prevent iron deficiency - the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide.

So why would anyone suspect that iron dietary supplements and drugs containing iron pose a serious health hazard to young children and infants?

In fact, accidental overdose of iron pills - despite child-resistant packaging - is a leading cause of poisoning deaths in children under age 6, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Since 1986, more than 110,000 such poisonings have been reported - including 35 deaths. In 1994 alone, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, at least 3,210 children under 5 years old were treated in emergency rooms and two died - all due to accidental overdoses of iron-containing products.

"It is such an innocuous item that people don't realize it may be toxic to children," says the FDA's Judith Foulke.

To help prevent iron poisoning, new FDA rules went into effect recently that require manufacturers to add warning labels alerting consumers to the danger iron can pose to young children. The warning, which will appear on labels of products as they replace inventory now on store shelves, cautions consumers to "keep this product out of reach of children" and directs them to call a doctor or poison-control center immediately "in case of accidental overdose."

The new rule requires products containing 30 milligrams or more of iron per dosage unit - such as iron supplements for pregnant women - to be packaged in a nonreusable container designed to hold a single dose, "like in a blister packaging," says Foulke.